All Posts

The repeal of the presumption of parental contact is being presented as a watershed moment in child protection. And it is. For years, survivors and children have lived with the reality that contact was treated as the default, even in cases where abuse was alleged, minimised or reframed as “conflict”. This reform is a significant and welcome step forward. It reflects years of survivor advocacy and a growing recognition of the risks children face in abusive contexts. But legal

There is a narrative that runs deep through family courts, child protection systems, and everyday conversation: domestic abuse stops when the relationship ends. It does not. For many children, separation marks not the end of harm, but the beginning of a different kind of abuse. It is quieter, more procedural, and often harder for systems to recognise. Yet its impact on children’s emotional safety and development can be profound and long lasting. Children Are Not Just Witnesse

There is a persistent narrative across safeguarding, policing, healthcare, and family justice that “GDPR prevents us from sharing information.” It is repeated so often that it has become accepted as fact. It is not fact. The law does not prohibit proportionate information sharing to protect victims or children. The UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 explicitly allow data to be shared where safeguarding is concerned. This is not controversial. It is confirmed in guidance

When Abuse Has No Name I disclosed to my line manager. I spoke to colleagues. Some of them were trained Mental Health First Aiders. But no one, including me, knew what coercive and controlling behaviour was. I had not really thought about domestic abuse at all. And so what I described was treated as stress, as relationship difficulty, as something I needed to manage privately while I got on with my job. That experience shaped the work I do now. Because the problem was not tha

Domestic abuse is often viewed through a lens that prioritises visible injuries and single incidents of violence. This perspective shapes how abuse is recognised, how survivors are believed, and how evidence is assessed. However, coercive and controlling behaviour rarely presents itself in such a straightforward manner. The Nature of Coercive Control Coercive control is a form of abuse that unfolds gradually and often invisibly. It is sustained through patterns of behaviour r

One of the most persistent failures in how abuse is recorded and responded to is linguistic. Research and survivor advocacy have long shown that systems routinely default to passive language when describing violence. Instead of naming who did what, the focus shifts to what happened to someone. “A woman was assaulted.” “Abuse was alleged.” “An incident occurred.” When the perpetrator is removed from the sentence, responsibility quietly shifts. Attention moves away from the act

On 26 January 2026, the government published its police reform white paper, From local to national: a new model for policing . The reforms introduce mandatory vetting to prevent officers with domestic abuse cautions or convictions from joining the force, new powers to dismiss officers for serious misconduct, and enhanced public protection training. These changes are necessary and long overdue. High-profile cases such as David Carrick and Wayne Couzens have exposed how perpetr

For years, coercive control has been understood as something that happens behind closed doors. A private pattern of domination, surveillance, isolation and fear. That understanding is now dangerously outdated. Technology has transformed coercive control from something hidden into something ambient , portable and increasingly normalised. Smart devices, AI tools, location tracking, image manipulation and covert recording technologies are not neutral. In the wrong hands, they be

Psychological abuse remains one of the most misunderstood forms of domestic abuse. It is often minimised because it leaves no visible injuries, because victims may appear articulate and functional, and because the harm frequently becomes most visible after separation. But psychological abuse is not subtle harm. It is profound, cumulative, and measurable. What is psychological abuse? Psychological abuse is a sustained pattern of behaviour designed to control, destabilise, and

How Misunderstanding Patterns Lets Abuse Persist Coercive control is one of the most damaging forms of abuse, yet it remains widely misunderstood by the very systems responsible for investigating, prosecuting, and judging it. Police, prosecutors, and judges often fail to recognise the cumulative patterns of control that define this crime. Without understanding what coercive control actually looks like in everyday life, victims are left unprotected, cases fail to reach convict

In criminal law, if a child is being harmed, we remove them from danger. In family law, we often mandate they maintain contact with the person harming them. Let that sink in. Practice Direction 12J exists for a reason. Introduced in 2017 (revised 2023), PD12J explicitly requires family courts to: Investigate domestic abuse allegations at every stage Conduct fact-finding hearings when abuse is disputed Assess risk before ordering contact Prioritise child safety over parental "

Why coercive control does not end with separation and how institutions can unintentionally sustain harm to women and children. Recognise. Respond. Protect. When Separation Does Not Mean Safety Coercive control does not end when a relationship ends. For many victim-survivors, separation marks the beginning of a new phase of harm. Post-separation abuse is often less visible, less easily named and more readily legitimised. While the perpetrator remains responsible for the abuse,

Leaving an abusive relationship is often described as the end point. In reality, it is the beginning of something far harder. After years of coercive control, a survivor’s world is usually smaller. Their confidence has been eroded. Their choices have been narrowed. Their finances may have been sabotaged. Their energy has been consumed by survival. Many are parenting alone, navigating court processes, or managing ongoing post-separation abuse. Work does not sit outside this re

I was watching Countryfile this weekend when a survivor described how she had learned to modify her behaviour to survive. She explained that over five years   she had been trained by her abuser   to adjust  what she said and did in order to stop situations escalating. She was answering a question about how she had survived her long ordeal being held at gunpoint by her abuser. Her words were familiar. They reminded me of how I modified my own behaviour while still in the relat